Wayland 3, Andover 0: A new king of the North is crowned

Just three years ago, the Wayland boys volleyball team didn't even make the Division 1 North tournament. On Thursday night, it was crowned champion of the sectional tournament.

By Kevin J. Stone/Daily News Correspondent

TEWKSBURY — Just three years ago, the Wayland boys volleyball team didn’t even make the Division 1 North tournament.

On Thursday night, it was crowned champion of the sectional tournament.

Second-seeded Wayland swept top-seeded Andover 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-22) in a battle of the Warriors to clinch the first Division 1 North title in program history.

Wayland, which improved to 22-2, will now play the three-time defending Division 1 South champion powerhouse Needham in the state semifinals at Wellesley High School on Monday at 6:30 p.m.

The loss was Andover’s first of the season after 22 straight wins.

"This is a relatively new program — this is my seventh year and I think we started two years before that — so the key has been getting kids into the program and letting them develop," said Wayland coach Rod Fletcher, who also said this would be his last season before assistant Phil George takes over next year. "Volleyball takes a while to get the hang of it, so we're now benefiting from kids that have come up through the ranks. It also helps that we've got some great athletes on our team.

“We've got five kids that were just on the state championship soccer team this fall, and we've got some basketball players too. We just have a bunch of kids that like to come to practice and work."

After two fairly easy wins in the first two games, Andover made Wayland work for the sweep in Game 3.

Andover jumped up 5-0, 6-1, and 8-2 with its season on the line, but Wayland battled back, and a kill by Oliver Moody (15 kills) tied things up at 10-10. Andover would work its way back to a 14-11 lead, but a combined block by Jack Fletcher (17 kills) and Kyle Wolf kept Wayland within striking distance at 16-14.

Moments later, a block by Jack Fletcher tied the game at 16-16.

With Andover up 18-17, Wayland rattled off four straight points with an ace by Asa Greenaway (42 assists) making it 21-18. Andover battled and managed to get things even at 22-22, but kills by Moody and Cam Gordon put Wayland a point away, and an ace by Wolf clinched the title.

"It's mostly just our coaches and a lot of hard work," Moody said when asked what's allowed the Wayland program to reach the top of the Division 1 North mountain just three years removed from not even being in the bracket. "We're all competitors and we just grind every day trying to get better."

"A lot of good, athletic kids just came out to try volleyball and turned out to be really good," added Jack Fletcher. "The coaching has been amazing as well. They've tried to make each of us an all-around great player and that's what's helped us a lot — we're very versatile."

For a while things were pretty close in Game 1 before Wayland ultimately pulled away for the 1-0 lead.

A kill by Hayden Davies gave Wayland an early 9-6 lead, and moments later a kill by Moody made it 12-9. Andover hung around and was down 17-13, but a series of unforced errors and some strong play from Wayland pushed the lead to 21-14. Leading 23-15, a kill by Gordon made it 24-15, and after an Andover point another kill by Gordon closed out the 25-16 win.

Game 2 was a clinic for Wayland, which took early leads of 3-2, 7-3, and 10-5. A combined block by Kieran Ireland and Greenaway put Wayland up 14-6. The lead ballooned to 17-8 and then 19-11. Minutes later a poor serve by Wayland gave Andover a little life, making it 23-17, but it wasn't going to slip away as a kill by Moody made it 24-17 and a combined block by Moody and Ireland gave Wayland the 2-0 advantage.

Needham now awaits Wayland, and Rod Fletcher knows it’s not going to be easy.

"They're well-coached, solid fundamentally, and have a deep roster," he said. "We're going to have our hands full, but we'll go into practice tomorrow and try to figure out how to deal with some of the things they do."

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